04/2023 until 03/2025

The technological change brought about by digital transformation has been shaping social and individual life for decades. This situation is also particularly significant for the fields of study and disciplines in Faculty 4:

(1) Digital transformations manifest themselves in the areas of social affairs, health and (cultural) education, where they have an impact and transform these areas. This requires us as teachers, learners and researchers to engage with these developments on an ongoing basis and to pursue our own (further) education and training.

(2) Through our approach to researching and teaching (new) technologies, we shape forms and conceivable possibilities for their use and, above all, engage with the ethical and social dimensions of their application and handling – but also with their possible limitations.

Both aspects are relevant to all disciplines represented in Faculty 4, but cannot be addressed in isolation. This requires continuous exchange on issues of digitalisation and our disciplines, subject areas and research interests. This requires, on the one hand, knowledge of issues relating to digitalisation and digitality, individual technologies and their possible applications and, on the other hand, knowledge of which topics are currently the focus of attention in the institutes of our faculty and to what extent these can be combined and merged with each other and in relation to specific technologies. In summary, this also allows us to grasp the social significance of digitalisation and its impact on all areas of life. Future developments could thus be shaped for society from the university level.

This is where our project idea comes in: we will deploy a cross-institutional digitalisation scout with a special focus on AR, VR and AI technologies and their networking with humans.

A digitalisation scout works proactively and across institutions:

• Training in the broadest sense on topics related to digitalisation,
• Trying out different technologies and testing their use in a future field of action,
• Discussion formats for exchange and networking within Faculty 4 with regard to common issues from the perspective of digitalisation and specific technologies,
• Disclosure and linking of resources in the sense of joint research focused on an interdisciplinary subject
• Getting to know and networking with colleagues from other faculties to work on issues together.
• Contact person for specific questions relating to technologies and digitalisation for people working at the institutes of Faculty 4.